Islam, politics and Obama

It is the fourth of July and celebrations are underway for the birthday of American independence. I am watching Oprah on this lazy holiday morning, while waiting for the Wimbledon Men's Semi-Final. Oprah is introducing a Muslim woman as her effort to integrate into the community minorities who are not as easily accepted or understood. Post-9/11 US has had its share of Muslim bashing and leaders with vision realise it is time to begin healing, while villains of peace continue to use the rhetoric of hatred to incite trouble.
Senator Obama has been at the receiving end of such politics of hate and on this fourth of July I want to dedicate this column to the spirit of Obama, which is uniting people of all ages, creeds, colour and religions and forming a movement in this country which I now call home, along with millions of immigrants who came here looking for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Later tonight, our family will be indulging in fireworks, cookouts and the holiday spirit which brings families, friends and communities together. Every time there is a significant holiday such as Christmas or Independence Day, I cannot help but remember comparable holidays back home.
I cannot remember the last time I celebrated August 14th, Pakistan's Independence Day. I have missed so many eids and shab-e-baraats, so many birthdays and anniversaries, always calling on phone yet never being there. I keep telling myself during my bouts of home sickness that those holidays were there, and there is not where I am now. This is the price one pays for living abroad. You cannot be in two places at one time, you cannot choose two lives in one lifetime and you cannot have the best of both worlds, as my father used to say, "Life is a package deal".
During the past 10 years in the US I have embraced both my past heritage and my present life by celebrating the memory of one and reality of the other. Man is a very adaptable creature. My children are able to speak the mother tongue but are more fluent in American lingo. When a child is born in a multicultural environment, he or she develops that unique ability to become multicultural.
Less than five decades ago, a historical event took place which is impacting American foreign politics like no other event in decades. A child named Barrack Hussain Obama was born as a result of a union between an American woman and an African man. No one could have predicted how this individual would grow up to become an African-American Christian leader. His ties to Islam are now under scrutiny. He was raised Christian and remains a devout Christian. Yet, due to his father's heritage, his opponents are trying to disinherit him from his chance of becoming the first black man to run for the American presidency. Using his middle name and his bloodline to his father, they are trying to make him less desirable to the majority of the white Christian voter base. The chances that he would succeed in a presidential race as a black Muslim male are minimal, just as a Christian running for President in a Muslim country would undoubtedly face defeat. There is nothing wrong with a Muslim running for president in a Christian country and vice versa, but in reality, it is unlikely that a Christian majority would vote for a man who comes from a religious minority. People vote for those whom they feel share their religious and cultural values.
Senator Obama is very respectful towards Muslims, but is honest about the fact that he is not one, despite his name and his father's before him. As a woman writer from a Muslim country I have no qualms about his Christian faith and have never questioned his heritage, it would not matter to me since my vote is for the best candidate for the job. However, it does matter to most and therefore is the topic of heated discussion. Recently during one of his rallies some inexperienced volunteers disallowed Muslim supporters to be photographed in the background with him, thinking it might become a point of negative criticism. It became a point of negative criticism precisely because Obama would not have been ashamed of being close to Muslim supporters.
From personal experience, I know that children from multicultural families are very friendly to people of different faiths. Obama is a man of deep knowledge and sound human judgement who would neither reject nor accept someone based solely on their faith. He respects Islam and Muslims and has a huge Muslim following in and outside the US. The local community from Pakistan, India and other South East Asian countries are all rooting for him. He recognised the debacles of former US governments in a war-torn Afghanistan and border of Pakistan and wants to work with their governments to bring about an end to terrorism and ensure peace and stability to the region. Neither his first nor his middle name will ensure deliverance from the politics of fanaticism and nuclear war heads.
As Shakespeare said, "What is in a name?" It is the man behind the labels and outside of his personal religious beliefs who will deliver us, here in the US and there in the South East, from the real issues that plague us. The issues that plague us are a world in economic difficulty, fanatical war fare, an era of non-communication between countries such as the US and Pakistan, oil prices, lack of education and health for people the world over and the importance of deliverance from bad foreign policy at this end. Let's rally for Obama, name and all!
The writer is a reputed Pakistani journalist, currently residing in San Francisco, USA